Ballmer Says iPod Owners are Thieves

Steve Ballmer, the ever-quotable CEO of Microsoft had a few choice words for the iPod legions (and presumably other audio player device owners as well) that haven't embraced Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Basically he said you are all thieves:

At the heart of the debate is Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology which will let content providers such as record labels and movie studios keep control of their intellectual property (IP) - or at least ensure all royalties are paid and copyright observed.

Billing Microsoft as the good guys and Apple the villains of the piece - at least as far as corporate America, rather than users, is concerned, Ballmer said: "We’ve had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."

"Part of the reason people steal music is money, but some of it is that the DRM stuff out there has not been that easy to use. We are going to continue to improve our DRM, to make it harder to crack, and easier, easier, easier, easier, to use," he said.

[Via Slashdot]

• Rio Says "Me Too!" to 6GB
  
• iRiver H10 Gets a 6GB Boost
  
• New Roc Box Site
  
• Cowon iAudio X5 Info and Photos